Holy Earworm

ungh,

Late night product release. Back again this morning. A little loopy. And now I've got this hymn stuck in my head...

Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing,
Fill our hearts with joy and peace!
Let us each, Thy love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace,
O refresh us,
O refresh us,
Trav'lling thro' this wilderness.

2. Thanks we give and adoration
For Thy Gospel's joyful sound.
May the fruits of Thy salvation
In our hearts and lives abound:
May Thy presence,
May Thy presence,
With us evermore be found.

3. So, whene'er the signal's given
Us from earth to call away,
Borne on angels' wings to heaven,
Glad the summons to obey,
May we, ready,
May we, ready,
Rise and reign in endless day.

"Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing"
J. Fawcett, 1773.

For a Lutheran hymn the tune is actually pretty catchy. Also, as you might guess, this is a closing hymn so when you finished it, they let you out of church. Finally, it was a short, quick song which was good in the race.

See, during the closing hymn, the two acolytes would come up, put out the candles and then exit. I felt that if we finished the song before the acolytes had finished putting out the candles then we, as a congregation, had "won" and the poor acolytes who were forced to put out the candles in our scornful silence were the "losers". So this song (especially during advent or other candle-heavy time), gave you a good shot at beating the acolytes.

I'm also pretty sure that during my time as an acolyte I always won (I wasn't so obsessive as to actually keep score). Also, I'm pretty sure the last time I went to church (which was last time I was home) I was annoyed that the closing song wasn't a winner (it was some 4-verse, 2-page affair).

whee!
Tom

Holy Earworm

ungh,

Late night product release. Back again this morning. A little loopy. And now I've got this hymn stuck in my head...

Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing,
Fill our hearts with joy and peace!
Let us each, Thy love possessing,
Triumph in redeeming grace,
O refresh us,
O refresh us,
Trav'lling thro' this wilderness.

2. Thanks we give and adoration
For Thy Gospel's joyful sound.
May the fruits of Thy salvation
In our hearts and lives abound:
May Thy presence,
May Thy presence,
With us evermore be found.

3. So, whene'er the signal's given
Us from earth to call away,
Borne on angels' wings to heaven,
Glad the summons to obey,
May we, ready,
May we, ready,
Rise and reign in endless day.

"Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing"
J. Fawcett, 1773.

For a Lutheran hymn the tune is actually pretty catchy. Also, as you might guess, this is a closing hymn so when you finished it, they let you out of church. Finally, it was a short, quick song which was good in the race.

See, during the closing hymn, the two acolytes would come up, put out the candles and then exit. I felt that if we finished the song before the acolytes had finished putting out the candles then we, as a congregation, had "won" and the poor acolytes who were forced to put out the candles in our scornful silence were the "losers". So this song (especially during advent or other candle-heavy time), gave you a good shot at beating the acolytes.

I'm also pretty sure that during my time as an acolyte I always won (I wasn't so obsessive as to actually keep score). Also, I'm pretty sure the last time I went to church (which was last time I was home) I was annoyed that the closing song wasn't a winner (it was some 4-verse, 2-page affair).

whee!
Tom